From James Madison to John Armstrong, 16 August 1814
To John Armstrong
Aug. 16. 1814
Note to Secy. of War, on Gaines lette⟨r⟩ of Aug: 7.1
It ought certainly to be at the discretion of Gaines to cross the Niagara. This may be made prudent by large re-inforcemts. to the Enemy, even after receivg 2000 from Izard’s army. Buffalo & Black rock must also claim his attention; whilst the Enemy are placed so conveniently for enterprizes agst. them.
If Izard should be unable by leaving a force on the St. Laurence, to obstruct the reinforcements destined to Kingston & upwards, it wd. seem that he ought to move all that can be spared from Champlain to Sacket’s harbour; the residue, after sending 2000 to Gaines, may make that place secure, & be ready for any offensive operation concerted with Chaun[c]y. Sacketts Harbour being the rendevous of the naval force, & the starting point for joint operations, a disposeable land force there must be always advantageous when we have the command of the Lake or the prospect of it. T.O.
Let Cunningham be disposed of as suggested by Col. Brady.2
Draft (DLC); Tr (DLC, series 3).
1. In his 7 Aug. 1814 letter to Armstrong, Brig. Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines reported that he had assumed command at Fort Erie. The health and morale of the army were good, he wrote, but there were not enough officers to undertake “offensive operations” against Lt. Gen. Gordon Drummond’s forces, which were “strongly posted opposite to black Rock” and numbered more than four thousand after recent reinforcements. Gaines promised to attack the British, whom he believed were preparing a siege of Fort Erie, if his army were increased to an equivalent level. In notes evidently intended for JM, Armstrong wrote on the verso: “This Corps Can best be reinforced (by regular troops) from the 1st. Division. I have concerted with the Sec. of the Navy the means of sending up 2000 men from Sackets harbor as suggested in a former note. … A conditional Order to Gen. Gaines to cross the Niagara may be useful. If any disaster happened to our fleet & the enemy was left at liberty to reinforce Gen. D. the issue of a Siege would be doubtful. A number of field & other officers have been sent on” (DNA: RG 107, LRRS, G-37:8).
2. The letter to which JM referred has not been found, but it was evidently from Col. Hugh Brady of the Twenty-Second Regiment of Infantry and concerned the case of surgeon’s mate Michael J. Cunningham, who was struck from the roll of that regiment on 17 Aug. 1814 ( 1:239, 345).